{"id":487,"date":"2009-02-12T15:49:37","date_gmt":"2009-02-12T21:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetneil.com\/tangents\/?p=487"},"modified":"2025-03-10T22:45:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T02:45:28","slug":"nyc-photo-session-nikon-200mm-f2-af-s-vr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/nyc-photo-session-nikon-200mm-f2-af-s-vr\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC photo session with Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NYC photo session with Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR<\/h1>\n

I recently allowed myself a vanity purchase … the Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR<\/a> lens (B&H).<\/p>\n

Last year some time, after seeing another photographer’s results with the Canon 200mm f2 IS, I was curious enough to rent one, check it out, and then lust after one. I posted a write-up and some images at the time<\/a>. What got to me was how insanely sharp the lens was at f2 .. and of course the incredible dream-like bokeh at f2 imparting an impressionistic appearance to the background.<\/p>\n

With me reverting to Nikon recently, I picked up a used copy of Nikon 200mm f2 VR instead. But it’s been too cold outside to try this lens out .. until yesterday when there was a slight thaw in the temperatures. Since I really liked the results\u00a0when I photographed Jackie with the Canon 200mm f2 IS,\u00a0using only the lights in Times Square … I decided to meet up with a new model in Times Square last night to try out the Nikon 200mm f2 VR.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I really liked Lauren’s looks, and thought that her Goth sense of style and dress, along with the lights in Times Square, would give a Blade Runner-like feel to the images.\u00a0\u00a0 The light is just whatever light there is in Times Square. \u00a0Which is a LOT of light from all the neon signs.\u00a0 And it constantly changes.\u00a0\u00a0 So no flash.\u00a0 There was some available light at the beginning of the shoot, and you can see this in the half-length portrait of Lauren.\u00a0 But in the image at the top, it was all due to the neon lights in Times Square.<\/p>\n

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All of the images were at f2, handheld at shutter speeds varying as either 1\/250th or 1\/200th .. all at 800 ISO with the Nikon D3.<\/p>\n

I did take care in positioning her so that we’d get side-light from some of the larger neon signs closer to street level.\u00a0 So it isn’t entirely random.\u00a0 In the same way that I would choose the direction of the light when using flash, (and ambient light for that matter), I was deliberate in where I positioned Lauren.\u00a0 In a few of the images, I had moved her more forward of the main bank of neon lights close to us, so that the light would come from her side and from behind her.\u00a0 In that way I avoided getting lighting that appeared too flat.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the backgrounds were chosen deliberately.\u00a0 Sure,\u00a0I had no control over when cars would steam by and their headlights cause a beautiful defocused glow in the background .. but the bright colourful backgrounds were quite deliberately chosen in how I positioned myself and Lauren.\u00a0 I avoided dark empty backgrounds.<\/p>\n

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Getting perfect skin tones are of course near impossible with all the neon lights constantly changing. So I tried for good skin tones per image. So there will be some variation.<\/p>\n

I did some slight skin\u00a0retouching, since I believe that very few people would be flattered with close-up photos with optics that are this sharp. But I did mask the background.\u00a0 So the backgrounds are what they are .. un-retouched.<\/p>\n

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And here is the beastie:\u00a0 the Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR lens<\/a><\/strong> (B&H)<\/p>\n

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First impression?<\/strong> It is huge.\u00a0 It is bulky and heavy.\u00a0 Have I mentioned that it is huge and heavy?\u00a0 Fortunately, on the recommendation of others, I bought the Kirk SGH-1 Super Grip Handle<\/a>, (B&H) and the Kirk LP-51 Quick Release Plate and Foot<\/a> (B&H) …\u00a0so that I could carry the lens by the handle.\u00a0 The lens is so heavy that it just feels like you’d damage the camera if you somehow only held this combo by the camera alone.<\/p>\n

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Optically <\/strong>the results\u00a0are truly impressive.\u00a0 Perhaps that is a wild claim since I’ve only used it af f2 … but I do believe that this kind of optic was meant to be used at f2.\u00a0 And as you can see from the images, the bokeh of this lens is just beautiful. (And btw, don’t confuse thin DoF with great bokeh … they are not quite the same thing.)<\/p>\n

What else to say but that I am in love with this lens?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NYC photo session with Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR I recently allowed myself a vanity purchase … the Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR lens (B&H). Last year some time, after seeing another photographer’s results with the Canon 200mm f2 IS, I was curious enough to rent one, check it out, and then lust after one. Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16,22,24,27,1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[8789,8793,8786,8787,8800,8797,8791,8799,8801,8794,8790,8788,8795,8796,8784,8785,8783,8792,4495,8798],"class_list":{"0":"post-487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-equipment-review","8":"category-gear","9":"category-lighting","10":"category-models","11":"category-nikon","12":"category-uncategorized","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50212,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/50212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}